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How To Create An Affordable Boat Building Workshop – Part 1

Boat building has long been a passion for many people. The relaxation of crafting something from hand, the pride in accomplishing a project and the joy of sailing away on a boat you made yourself all add to the excitement of boat building. However, some never get to experience this leisurely pursuit because they think they have nowhere to build a boat.

The launch of the television show NCIS has heightened the awareness of boat building as Mark Harmon’s character, Special Agent Gibbs, pours over his boat plans in almost every episode. Granted, building a boat in your basement might not be the best idea (Gibbs never explained how he got the boat out of his house), but there are other ways to create an affordable boat building workshop.

A Little Space Will Do Ya

Building a boat doesn’t require a large amount of dedicated space. Most boat builders use whatever is available and will make due in a temporary situation. A garage or shed, a pent roof or tent, even a few pieces of PVC pipe glued together with a few tarps tossed over the top will do. The important thing is not the space itself, but what you put in your boat building space.

Stocking Your Workshop

When deciding where to build your boat, here are some things of importance to remember. You’ll want your workshop to be a bit larger than the boat you want to build. Three feet of free space around the boat is optimal, but less would certainly do. You will want enough space to be able to freely move around all sides of the boat. You can use your boat plans to determine the finished size. Then add two to three feet to each side to calculate the size of your workshop.